Presidency tackles Nwabueze on Nigeria’s failed state indices

The Presidency yesterday rejected the statements credited to elder-statesman, Prof Ben Nwabueze that symptoms of a failed state have already been manifesting in the Nigerian state.

Nwabueze, who spoke in Enugu on Saturday at a function organised by the Igbo Youth Movement, said Nigeria was sliding into a failed state, as the indices were glaring enough.

But the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe yesterday described Nwabueze’s comments as “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic” by any Nigerian.

According to Okupe, available facts and figures do not suggest anything near a failed state in the country.

Okupe said: “A failed state is where there is erosion of legitimate authority, where there is instability and the country cannot afford to provide public services like the provision of light, good roads, water supply and security services.

“In Nigeria, there is a serving national and state Assemblies providing quality legislative services and issuing out good and quality legislations for the good governance of the country and the states.

“There are guaranteed laws and services in Nigeria, even in states like Borno and Yobe where there are security challenges like the Boko Haram insurgency. Even today, Nigeria is providing security services to Mali. All these have not suggested any iota of a failed state.

“They are dreaming negative dreams for the country and it will not happen. None of the indices of a failed state is applicable to Nigeria. There is no breakdown of law and order in Nigeria”.

Also the Special Assistant to the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Governors and Governance, Mr. Osaro Onaiwu decried what he described as the average Nigerian’s penchant to run his country down.

Apparently referring to Nwabueze’s past service as Education Secretary under the late Gen. Sani Abacha regime, Onaiwu said: “This is even more disturbing, knowing that some of these statements are coming from elders who contributed to the decimation of Nigeria during their service to various undemocratic regimes in the past.

“Now that our democracy is displaying stability even in its infancy, these statesmen should be thankful to this government for tackling some of the fundamental problems that were thrown at us by regimes that were not accountable to anybody. These are problems that we all know cannot be solved overnight” he added.

Onaiwu cited Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment, which, he said, stood at over $9 billion as an indication that the country could not be categorised as a failed state.

“I doubt if all these foreigners pumping money into our country think Nigeria is a failing state”, Onaiwu said.

The PDP chairman’s aide regretted that while foreigners see a fledgling democracy in trying to bring prosperity to the Nigerian people, some Nigerians believe in painting gloomy pictures of their conuntry.

“Foreigners see better communication, they see better transportation, they see a pool of educated youths, they see improvement in power and security amongst others”, he said.

He challenged those seeing indices of a failed state in Nigeria to visit states like Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Jigawa, Edo, Kano, Gombe and others that are working hard to bring development to their people and see if the people of these states would the country is failing.